One of the hidden treasures of the city of Brest: The Merle Blanc district

One of the hidden treasures of the city of Brest: The Merle Blanc district

One day when the weather was fine I decided to walk on foot in the city of Brest which is in the Finistere region in France. I walked around the station of Brest. Brest train station is the French railway station terminus of the Paris-Montparnasse line in Brest, located overlooking the harbor near the center of the city of Brest.

Along the boulevard Gambetta I was able to discover, on my right, a metallic footbridge spanning the railway line and of little appearance. At the end of this footbridge is one of the hidden treasures of the city of Brest: The Merle-Blanc district, perched on the side of a cliff, this former hamlet with the country charm miraculously preserved.

Le “Merle Blanc”, a place where no one knows for sure where the name comes from, was once a hamlet or a village perched on a hillside less than 1 km from the fortifications of the city of Brest. It was neighboring the roadstead until it was separated in the 1860s by the embankment of the shore and the construction of the Port of Commerce.

At the same time, the new Paris-Brest railway was cutting off the neighborhood to the north of the new town, where the suburbs of Saint-Michel and Saint-Martin were developing. Very close to the city center, the area is still directly connected by footpaths: a footbridge over the railway line leading to Saint Michel, and a footpath running along the railway line On 500 m, leading to the station and offering a superb panorama on the harbor and the harbor.

This “Merle Blanc” trail is also included in marked and small hiking trails.